Photo by Phil Brown

One of the biggest habits I’ve been correcting is that I’ll email or call a potential client and get miffed when I don’t hear back from them. I assume they’ve received the message and by not responding, they’re clearly saying “not interested”.

I now have a new system. I go for “no”. A non-answer is simply a non-answer. I don’t know if the person does or doesn’t want my services. All I know is that they didn’t get back to me. Perhaps my email went into their spam folder or my phone call was deleted before they could act on it. I don’t know. I also don’t really care what the story is. My goal is to simply get a “yes” or “no” answer. If they’re truly not interested, I want to hear “no”. If they are not ready to answer, that’s okay – I can re-ask my “yes” or “no” question again after their concerns/needs are better met. Best case scenario – I hear a yes.

Unless you’ve done a lot of door-to-door selling, most of us hate hearing “no”. We take it personally, and a “no” feels bad. So we gingerly ask questions and assume we know the answer.

If you’re sending someone an email that requires an answer, and you don’t get one in a timely matter, call them. If you’ve called someone and they haven’t returned your calls, write them a handwritten letter. If you’ve written them a letter and they haven’t responded, try dropping by (if the answer is truly worth your time). What’s the worst thing that can happen? You’ll hear NO. What’s the best thing that can happen?